


The Best Defense Part IV: Watcher CD

by kronette



Series: Best Defense [4]
Category: Highlander: The Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-30
Updated: 2012-12-30
Packaged: 2017-11-22 22:13:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/614932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kronette/pseuds/kronette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Methos has graduated from Watcher Academy and is fitting into life with the Watchers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Best Defense Part IV: Watcher CD

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted 1999 under my other pseud, Shelley Wright.

Paris, Winter 1989

~~~~

Adam Pierson pulled his coat tighter around himself as the wind blustered through the busy Parisian streets. Friday night for most people was date night, but for him it was poker night. Don Salzer, Pierson, and the occasional wandering-through-Paris Watcher joined in. Adam hadn't missed a poker night yet, though with winter settling upon Paris, he supposed they would have to cancel at least one or two due to heavy snow. 

He chose to walk - well, perhaps 'chose' was too strong a word. To keep up appearances of a struggling grad student, Adam didn't have a car. Public transportation was well and good...but not very practical for Immortals. Too much like shooting at fish in a barrel. Adam liked the open spaces; they gave him plenty of escape routes. So, here he was, hustling to make the game on time. Even in his haste, he slowed down outside of Darius' church as the slight hum of the other Immortal filled him. Adam closed his eyes and sent a 'hello' to his old friend. He smiled as he imagined Darius sending him back warm thoughts, a lecture about wrapping himself against the cold, and a mug of mead. 

"I will see you soon, my friend," Adam murmured before he covered the remaining blocks to Shakespeare & Company. He reached out to knock when the door was opened and Salzer ushered him inside. 

"Hello, Don," he greeted his friend warmly. 

"Adam! Good of you to come," Don enthused as he pumped his hand. "We're just setting up in back. 

"You know," Adam mused as his glaze slid around the store, "You should get automated here. It would really help in keeping accurate records." He shrugged off his jacket and hung it on the rack by the door. 

Don locked the door and pulled the shade. "I have all the accurate records right here," he said as he tapped his forehead. He turned and headed toward the back room. "I have no need for automation."

Adam fell into step beside Don but refused to give up. His love of computers had only grown over the years, and he had been thinking about this for several months. "What if I set it up for you? What if I catalogued everything and input it into a database? Think how easy it would be to look up something!"

"A card catalogue wouldn't do that?" Don asked with a raised eyebrow.

Adam had to smile. "Of course it would," he murmured. 

Don dismissed him with a wave. "Then what use is it? Just wasted time." 

He laughed. "Tell you what. I'll set up a preliminary program and you can see how easy it is. How does that sound?"

He opened the door to the back room and Adam stepped inside. "Like a lot of work for nothing. Come; we are all set up. Joe Dawson is already here."

Adam wouldn't relent. "Please?"

Don took one look at his face and chuckled. "Oh, all right. You youths coming in with your new ideas! What good would it be if we continually told you no?"

Adam just smiled.

The next several hours passed in pleasant rivalry. Adam lost a modest amount so as to keep his cover of grad student, but made sure he saved enough to 'get by' on his salary as a Watcher. The organization had been kind to him, giving him a place to live and covering tuition expenses, but he was still careful about maintaining his cover. Around three a.m., he called it a night and thanked Joe and Don for their hospitality. He returned to his rented flat and went to bed, but his mind wouldn't let go of the database idea. 

~~~~

Three days later, he was back at the bookstore trying to sell Don on the idea once more, though with a different tactic. He helped catalog the new arrivals as he talked. 

"Don," he began in a serious voice. "All throughout my training, I thought of something. Something that might be beneficial to the Organization."

"Why tell me? Why don't you mention it to your instructors?" Don called from the other row. 

Adam checked off another book and placed it on the shelf. "Because after going through training, I'm not sure it would be welcome."

Don was quiet for a moment, then asked, "What is it?"

He took a deep breath and walked around to appeal to Don face-to-face. "A database. Watchers, Immortals, everything, all in one package. Cross-referenced, easy to access, able to find matches on unknown Immortals quickly."

His friend actually stopped working and focused all his attention on him. This was a good sign, he hoped. "What about the field reports?"

"We would still need them," Adam assured him. His enthusiasm bubbled over as he really launched into his explanation. "This is mainly for researchers. Say a Field Agent witnesses a beheading, but doesn't know the challenger. They get a picture, give it to us to scan in, and we do a search. If they are known to us, we've got a neat, closed file. If it's an unknown Immortal, we'll at least know that Immortal existed. Think of how much more accurate we could be. Isn't that what we're striving for? To catalogue every Immortal? How can we do that if we don't even know who is one!"

"Have you taken a breath now?" Don teased. 

Adam's eyes were sparkling. "You are as passionate about your books as I am about this, Don. I sit in the library pouring over texts looking for dates and places where a certain Immortal was spotted. Just think how much more productive I would be if I could just tap a few keys and pull up that same information." 

Doubt filled Don's eyes. "But the Chronicles..."

"Would still be used. What would we be without Field Agents?" He held his arms wide in a helpless gesture. "They gather the information and we pump it into the database. If there was any doubt of who a certain Immortal had killed, it's readily available. A few keys, and up pops a list of who they killed, the dates, where the challenge took place -- everything."

Don shook his head and protested, "This sounds like a huge undertaking, Adam. Think of the hours involved! It would take months. Maybe years." 

He nodded but pushed on. "Possibly. But it can be as detailed as we want it. If we just want to include pictures, dates, challenges, victors and students, then that's all we'll need. It will be a long term project; an ongoing one. This isn't a one-time deal. The database would have to be updated regularly. Think what we could do. If we could generate some sort of report on Immortal activity every month, we might be able to predict when the Gathering begins. Do you know what that could mean?"

Adam certainly knew what it would mean. When the time came, he would bury himself in a cave on the highest mountain in Tibet. He had no intention of being _active_ when the Gathering took place. Hopefully, mankind will have settled on the moon by then. Until then, he had to make due. He watched hopefully as Don seemed to warm to the idea. 

"We would be prepared ahead of time. We could send out more agents to keep track; we've predicted things will happen very quickly. We might _be_ there when the Prize is won. Adam," Don clasped his shoulders, "This might be the greatest thing anyone has ever thought of!"

He laughed. "Not quite, but it's nice to know you're enthusiastic about this! I'll tell you what. I'll start programming a demo, see how it works..."

Don apparently wasn't listening to him. "You must write up a proposal and give to Jacques immediately!"

"NO!" he snapped before he could think. 

Don blinked at him. "What?"

"No," Methos said, softer. "A proposal on paper wouldn't be as effective as a live, working model. Let me work on programming a simple demonstration. Then I'll take it to Vemas." 

His enthusiasm seemed to wane a bit. "How long do you think that would take?" 

"I don't know," Adam admitted. "I'll have to work in my spare time, which is getting more spare as I've been getting more duties. I'll keep you updated." 

~~~~~

He tilted his head back and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. The flickering of the computer screen was the only light on in the apartment. He had just moved into it a few weeks ago, as he finally had gotten his stipend. He had just enough for the down payment, but now he was settled. It was a quiet neighborhood off the main streets. And for his own protection, it was situated near the river in case someone came after his head. He had five different escape routes. First floor, windows on two sides, and the layout of the apartment was to his advantage. He didn't survive 5,000 years by being sloppy. His natural paranoia and suspicion usually served him well. 

The computer beeped at him, and he raised his head. He tapped a few keys and ran the program. His heart was in his throat as he waited for the program to execute. This was it. He had spent eight months scanning in photos, double-checking dates, and inputting the data. That was the easy part. The hard part had been writing the code, making sure every single detail was accurate, down to the pixel count that appeared on screen. Previous versions had popped up errors that had nearly driven him insane. He consulted with some programming friends who had helped him, and in a few seconds, he would see the cumulation of his work. 

The screen went black and the prompt appeared dead center. He typed in his password and hit enter. A few seconds later, the Watcher symbol flashed across the screen. He was breathless as that disappeared and the menu popped up. He reached out a shaky hand and pulled the cursor over "Immortals" and clicked on it. With a slight smile, he entered "Darius" and hit enter. Ten seconds later, the main screen for the Immortal Darius came up. 

"Come on, baby, show me whatcha got," he whispered to himself. He did a few cross-checks on students of Darius', Grayson and a few other Immortals he knew about. He experimented with inputting dates and seeing if the accurate data popped up. He ran a few other searches, and all seemed to bring up the appropriate and accurate data. It looked like the bugs were gone. He exited the program, typing in his password again before shutting the computer down. 

"Yeeesssss," he hissed as he clenched his fist. 

He would show it to Don in the morning; right now, he needed sleep. Picking up his beer and sword, he tossed the empty beer can away, placed the sword by the bed, and slipped under the covers. He was asleep in minutes.

~~~~~

"Dear God, Adam. When you suggested a database, I had no idea you meant something this elaborate!" Don's eyes scanned the computer screen before him, seeing his own face reflected back. 

"What good is a database if it doesn't do everything you need? Just click there, and you can see your history in the Watchers. Click there, and pull up any other Watcher information. Click here, and you'll pull up that Immortal's history. Condensed, of course. I'm not a sadist," Adam teased as he pointed out the various features he had programmed. 

"This is incredible. I cannot believe you got all this information in here!"

Adam frowned. "There is hardly any information in there, Don. This is just the bare necessities. To truly be a functioning, useful tool, it'll take hundreds of man-hours to input everything. And this is just for Western Europe. It will have to be done for each of the Divisions, then all the databases linked into one huge central database. This is a long term project." 

"Yes, yes, I can see that," Don murmured as he explored what the database could do. "You've included Methos?" 

"What I could find," he shrugged, then stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Which wasn't much. Has he really been that far underground? Have only a handful of Watchers ever seen him, and _knew_ it was him?" 

"Yes," Don related with a touch of sadness to his voice. "I believe he is wise to stay so hidden. With that much power, he would be a target of just about every Immortal. The Watchers who discovered Methos was still alive are held in the highest esteem. Every time we thought him dead, when a Challenger took an unknown's head, we feared the worst. Then, years would go by and someone would find him." Don chuckled. "Like a millennia-old game of cat and mouse." 

_More like chicken,_ he thought to himself. "He sounds like a wily devil." 

"Oh, he is. Just the fact that he hasn't lost his head yet says that much. I wish we knew more about him. But, it is not to be."

"Why not? Surely the last Watcher kept tabs on him. Where is he now?"

"His last Watcher died over one hundred and fifty years ago. She thought it was Methos, anyway. We cannot prove it - but now I see how useful this database could be. She was quite a talented artist, and drew a rough sketch of Methos before he slipped away. When you propose this to Jacques, you must ask to include that sketch. We might be able to find him again," Don said wistfully. 

"So there have been mentions of him in other Chronicles?" Adam asked nonchalantly. 

"A few scattered references, yes. But nothing concrete." Don fiddled with the mouse, clicking on Methos' history files. "He is as vague as the wind; ever moving; ever changing. He could be living next door and we wouldn't know it." 

Adam felt a twinge of guilt, but forced it back down. If Don ever found out he was Immortal, let alone the very man they were discussing, the results could be disastrous. He'd had too many close calls with the Watchers to truly trust them, even if he did call some friends. "I want to find him, Don." 

"Who?" Don answered distractedly as he clicked the mouse onto another Immortal. 

Adam took a deep breath. "Methos." 

Don swiveled in his chair to stare up at him. "How?"

"I don't know. You said his last Watcher was over a hundred years ago. What has been done to locate him since?" he asked as calmly as he could. 

Don shrugged. "In the last few years, nothing. I told you of the special assignment; not a field agent - a researcher. Set to sift through the Chronicles for references to unknown challengers or Immortals we didn't have information on, in the hopes that one of them would turn out to be Methos." 

_Yes!_ he yelled to himself. This was what he wanted; this is why he'd sweated for years. But something in Don's voice set off warning bells. "What happened to the position?"

"Funding cuts and...lack of interest," Don answered sadly. "Methos has not been active in the Game for a long time, as far as we know. He has disappeared without a trace, and the interest just isn't there. There are enough active Immortals to keep track of without worrying about just one. He is important to the Game, but until he wants to be found - he won't be." 

He forced his voice to remain calm. He had worked too hard and too long to give up now. "Can you get this position reopened, Don? I want it." 

Don shook his head. "I don't think so, my young friend. I share your enthusiasm, but the arguments against it were very strong." 

"Try, please," he pleaded. "It would mean a great deal to me." 

He watched Don's eyes flick to the computer screen, deep in thought. "I will see what I can do. I make no promises." 

"Then I can ask no more. Thank you, Don." He smiled warmly at the bookstore owner. 

~~~

Darius --

I have spoken to Salzer about the Methos project, and he agreed to see what he could do. I am confident that he will be able to reopen the position. I know he will recommend me for the post, and I am more than anxious to see what they really have on me. I have thought about your concerns, and I will abide by your wishes. If I happen across any information -- other than a description, which will be immediately erased -- I will leave it intact. It will not hurt them or endanger me for them to have scattered bits known about me. Only if they piece the puzzle together will I worry.  
MacLeod is still with Tessa? That comes as a bit of a shock. From his chronicles, he didn't appear to be the commitment type. Perhaps he is maturing. It happens to the best of us. But he has not told her yet about his Immortality? Cautious, protecting her from the Game, no doubt.  
I will try to attend church on Saturday, though I make no promises. I have been told about the Immortal Darius, and I think they wanted me to get a closer look at you anyway. For what purpose, I am not sure. But do not be alarmed if you feel me there; I just wanted to warn you ahead of time.  
Be well, my friend. I hope to see you this weekend. 

M--

Adam sealed the envelope and addressed it. He gathered his sword and jacket, and headed to the post office. He had a few more errands to run before he met at Salzer's. They had another poker game this evening, and he planned to be a bit more aggressive this time. 

the end


End file.
